Thursday, November 6, 2008

Well ...... about a year ago I was WEARY .... waiting for that beloved call about our referral. It's interesting once the call finally comes ... then when you travel and get the full collection of pictures of your child as they waited. All the pieces link together. This photo was taken around November of last year when Gladney took our precious Arsema into their care. If you've followed our journey, you might remember she spent the first nine months of her life HERE. We were incredibly blessed to

get to take her back there and meet the incredible women that helped care for her while she was ill.

When she first got to Gladney she couldn't yet bear weight on her legs. Tiny and frail. SO the complete opposite of now! :) She is anything but tiny and frail!

These photos don't make me as sad as they once did. For now when I look at them, while knowing how are daughter is today ....... I am just in awe of God's incredible faithfulness. In His great mercy He sustained our precious babe. I can't deny that seeing her orphanage and imagining her there all those months ..... well, it crushed me. But my heart is just overflowing with gratitude for all that God has done in our little one's life.

She is so bright and full of life. The girl KNOWS what she wants, let me tell you! She's somewhat shy and timid and definitely cautious of anything new. Yet!, she is strong and can loudly proclaim what it is that ails her! Ha. :) We rejoice in it all ..... for it is who God created her to be. It is an absolute JOY and BLESSING to see her transform and thrive into this amazing little girl she was designed to be.

Last year at this time we found ourselves putting in 10-12 hours many days a week doing assembly lines of making hand-made cards and other items that in turn would provide to help bring her home. I humbly confess to you that there were days I wondered what in the world we were doing!! As much as I believed God has called us to adoption, in my humanness and flesh I grew weary. It was during those times I'd just stop and cry a bit and think about our babe waiting ..... how she was counting on us to finish the course. I'd cry out to the Lord to give me more strength to keep persevering .... both in the task and hand and in the anxiety of the wait. All I can say to you now is that when I look at these pictures of the time line ...... I am SO GRATEFUL that we listened to the Lord and obeyed.

I don't share this with you to shine light on what we did. It's not about that at all. But I share it all because perhaps you are like us .... feeling God pierce your heart to follow Him on the journey of adoption but there are SO many limitations in your vision that you can barely see through them. We could give you a long list of reasons that it was not "practical" for us to even attempt the adoption journey. And we were even told by some others, some directly, some indirectly, things like "what are you doing???" (okay, perhaps they worded it a bit more vague). What we can tell you is this ....... standing on this side of the journey? ...... there are NO regrets!!! Was there sacrifice? .... well, certainly there was. Brutal long hours/weeks/months working toward it? .... yep. But it is NOTHING ...... NOTHING compared to the needs our daughter-to-be had.

God has been SO faithful! .... both to Arsema and to us. NONE of this could have happened without Him.

We just passed the "6 month mark" of being home together as a family. In the next couple days we'll share more with you about that .... along with some updated "happy pictures"! :) But these pictures are part of her story too .... I am so grateful for them all.

Some of you are stuck in this most long and wearing wait. Know that we pray for you often. You will have no regrets on the other side of your journey. May the Lord encourage you and carry you through til you reach the finish line.

About Me

Shelly is a dedicated wife and mother of five blessings from around the globe. She is known for being an encourager, prayer warrior and advocate for the Fatherless. While serving with the ABBA Fund, Shelly strives not only to see children be placed in families, but for those families to thrive. She blogs at reachingheartsblog.com and is also a women’s speaker and enjoys traveling all over the US, bringing inspiring insight to impact and encourage all who hear.